The War that Had to Be Won (1936: The Road to War)

[trekaddict]

Say what you want about Churchill and the man did have his faults but dear god he had the right idea about the Nazis IOTL and will have about the Reds ITTL.

[Nathan Madien]

After the Marco Polo Bridge incident, 1937 speeded itself to a enervating end.

Enervating...what? Did you just make up a word, Kurt?

In due time and in a not so distant future, this flood of interviews would be source of endless embarrassement of the new Duce.

Here we can see Chief Blackhorn and Italo Balbo, when the future Duce was adopted by the Sioux as "Chief Flying Eagle." in 1933

As if this picture won't be embarrassing enough.

@Nathan Madien: Pittman... I knew I was forgetting something... May I kill him -retroactively- in a bout of flu in 1919 or would it be too cheeky?

Considering he's obscure to begin with, killing him off just doesn't seem fair.

[El Pip]

Enervating...what? Did you just make up a word, Kurt?

Nope, just used a relatively obscure one - means feeling drained and low on energy.

So I have to say I like the idea of speeding towards a drained end. And that I still disagree completely that German inflation was that easy to dodge given the wide spread stupidity in German financial circles and the long history of printing money if faced with any problem at all. Still, a bit late for it to change now so I'll shut up about it.

[trekaddict]

Nope, just used a relatively obscure one - means feeling drained and low on energy.

So I have to say I like the idea of speeding towards a drained end. And that I still disagree completely that German inflation was that easy to dodge given the wide spread stupidity in German financial circles and the long history of printing money if faced with any problem at all. Still, a bit late for it to change now so I'll shut up about it.

Problem is, that is pretty much what they did IOTL, i.e. creating a new currency. This is of course an over-simplification but I guess it's here too.

[FlyingDutchie]

Wonder if Chief Balbo can keep all those Fascist Grand Council vultures of his back. Still, the war against the Reds looks ready to break out sooner than later. Just wondering if Western Europe can and will show a united front.

[Kurt_Steiner]

Chapter eighteen: The Hammer and the Carrier

1938 began with unsettling news: Russia launched its first carrier, the Sovyetskiy Soyuz (Soviet Union) (1). If reports had to be believed, the Soviets had built a carrier with a mighty air group (wtih as many as 90 planes, some of them storaged) using the hull of an unfinished battleship. Apparently, it all began in 1930, when the Soviet Navy built, with French assistance the Krasnoye Znamya (Red Baner), using the hull of an old cruiser. She was Moscow's first attempt at seaborne aviation and she was used mainly as a training ship to acquaint aviators, commanders, and deck crew personnel with flight operations. Thus the Sovyetskiy Soyuz became the Soviet Union's first purpose-built, designed as tactical force multipliers supporting the Baltic Battlefleet, althought she was initially deployed in Sevastopol.

The Sovyetskiy Soyuz after its launch

The ship was a hodge-podge of carrier styles: German-style high pressure stram propulsion (with all their attendant problems), British-style closed hangars, an island mounted port-side like some Japanese carriers and a mixture of Soviet and French aircrafts: the fighter Polikarpov I-155, a navalized version of the I-153; the torpedo bomber Antonov An-5, roughly based upon the Levasseur PL 107, an interesting design that, apparently, was even better than the Fairey Swordfish; How the KGB had managed to obtain those secrets was unknown, but it had caused a depressing effect to the MI5, the Deuxième Bureau and the Abwehr.

A Levasseur PL 107 of the Aerónavale.

When completed, the Sovyetskiy Soyuz had a lenght of 261.21 meters (857 ft 0 in) overall, a beam of 31 meters (101 ft 8 in) and, at deep load, a draft of 8.08 meters (26 ft 6 in). She displaced 26,900 long tons (27,300 t) at standard load, and 34,364 long tons (34,920 t) at full load. Her complement totaled 1,600 crewmembers.

In Britain there was no time to be bored. The political campaign had been anything but calm with Winston Churchill becoming the target of most of the attacks by the Tories and the Liberals, which denounced his irresponsability and recklessness, and from the Pacifist organisations, which attacked him for his proposal to introduce conscription at once, while the other parties pledged tht they would do so just in the event of an incoming war. Meawnhile, Churchill blamed the Tories for allowing the "Shame of Prague" to happen and attacked the Liberals for their tacit support to the government. The Labour Party, under Herbert Morrison, kept fighiting a guerrilla war of its own, trying no to to become a fourth and forgotten political force (some political advisors suggested that even the Scottish National Party looked better in the polls than Morrison's chums).

sir John Simon (1873-1954)

The hours of polling on election day 24 October 1937 were from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm. The first result were annouced by the BBC at 9.30 pm. The Tories managed to obtain a slight victory, but, in the end (and ironically), and the mutual hatred of the Liberals and the Labourist and Churchill's "peace-talks" with his former Tories colleagues kept Sir John Simon from becoming the Liberal Prime Minister of Britain. For how long it was hard to say.

Conservative: 279 (317)
Liberal: 237 (183)
Labour: 57(45)
National Alliance: 35(0)
Irish Nationalist: 2 (2)
Other Political Parties: 5 (3)
-------------
Total: 615
------------

(Novermber 1935 results in brackets)



(1) I did some modding to achieve this. Call it a running joke between Kurt and Steiner. In due time the truth behind this will be explained.


@Trekaddict: Perhaps in a distant future, once the Soviets are crushed...

@Razgriz 2K9: So to speak, yes, I did that. Britain won't go Fascist: Mosley is crippled, no BUF and neither old Nev nor Winnie won't allow that.


@Mr. Santiago: Most certainly, sir!

@H.Appleby: I fully agree. In due time, who knows...

@trekaddict: True too.

@Nathan Madien: No. It is one of those words that, for no-native English speakers becomes a charming word when you realize that it didn't mean what it seems. It looks quite similar to the Spanish word "Enervante", that is, annoying. I happen to love that kind of "false friends"...

Ok, I won't kill him.


Yet...

@El Pip: Yup.

I wanted to keep things simple. Too much, methinks... Blame Peti for that.

Kurt, you dirty bastard!

@trekaddict -2-: :Too true, too

@FlyingDutchie: We shall see. Both doubts. In due time.

[El Pip]

Why are National Labour still going again? If there's no national government to support so I've no idea what the point of them continuing is, if there is a national government then Con + Nat Lab is a majority and a continuation of the national government, which was the whole point of the party in the first place.

Honestly I'm a little confused, any chance of some explanation Kurtie?

[trekaddict]

Maybe because they didn't have the power to nationalize Aviation, rails or anything else a Labour splinter group nationalized themselves instead?

We can look forward to them going bust in five years then.

[Kurt_Steiner]

Bloody Hell. I made a mistake -another one. I got confused by the National Labourist and the National Alliance (who said that this name was a bad choice? Wise boy, indeed). Too many Nationals fooling around, if you ask me. I think that the polls make sense (I hope so) now.

PS: Does noboby care for the creation of a Red Carrier Force? Really?

[trekaddict]

Oh I do. But the Soviets seem to have picked the worst possible selection of features so I'm not overly worried.

[El Pip]

PS: Does noboby care for the creation of a Red Carrier Force? Really?

Strange, I could have sworn I typed something about that in my reply. I blame the most recent forum upgrade.

But yes I had noticed the Soviet carrier force and their particularly attractive fleet composition; a load of old tat and one modern(ish) carrier looking lost and confused in the middle of it. I do wonder where on earth they found an unfinished battleship hull, I mean it's not the kind of thing you keep lying around. I did think it could be the hull of the Imperator Nikolai, but that was scrapped in the 1920s. Nothing else of any size got lain down till the late 1930s which is too late for them to be any use. A mystery.

[Razgriz 2K9]

If this is the Soviet Navy, makes me thankful that the RL Soviet Navy was never that good. I mean, what would happen to the world if the Soviets had Nuclear-powered Aircraft Carriers! :O

[Nathan Madien]

PS: Does noboby care for the creation of a Red Carrier Force? Really?

I was going to comment on it until I saw this:

The Labour Party, under Attlee, kept fighiting a guerrilla war of its own, trying no to to become a fourth and forgotten political force (some political advisors suggested that even the Scottish National Party looked better in the polls than Attlee's chums).

For some reason, this reminds me of something:

The first stage had more troubles with the native landscape than with the Turkish oposition. Nixon's Tigris Corps moved along the river’s west bank. Nixon was methodical in his approach, and took Amara (July 18th 1916) after a vicious fight that caused several casualties among the advanced units of the Tigris Corps. Among the casualties was the commander of one of the assaulting companies, Captain Clement Attlee, who was mortally wounded and died while he was being evacuated back to a hospital ship in Kuwait (2).

(2) Try to defeat Winnie in the Elections, you bugger!

Apparently the Labour Party was so desperate for a leader that they resorted to digging up a dead body.

[Kurt_Steiner]

Peti Speaking:

Thanks for (train)spottting that mistake, Natham. That bloody psychopath forgots even who's killed... He needs a secretary.

Mistake corrected. I hope.

[Nathan Madien]

Peti Speaking:

Thanks for (train)spottting that mistake, Natham. That bloody psychopath forgots even who's killed... He needs a secretary.

Mistake corrected. I hope.

It's okay. The only reason I remember you killed off Attlee is because I remember making a comment about it. I had to search awhile to find it.

[Kurt_Steiner]

Chapter nineteen: "Da Gunz"

To outsiders, one of the most enduring features of the British army is its adaptability to circumstances. By 1938 it was obvious that the Red Army was expanding its armoured forces at a fast pace. Among the new toys of Stalin there the last examples of the BT light tank series, the BT-7, with a new Mijulin M-17T engine -a copy of a BMW engine- and the BT-7M. The increasing number of BT fast light tanks that joined the ranks of the Red Army made obvious that the British army needed a highly mobile AT gun.

Thus the portee anti tank was born.

The portee was a truck that carried a gun on its bed, such that the gun was not affixed permanently to the vehicle, could be quickly unloaded or be fired from the truck. The first portee were the two-pounder (40mm) AT gun portee. As it name suggests, it consisted of a 2 pounder AT gun mounted on a Morris 15 cwt truck or the Chevrolet WA or WB 30cwt truck.

A two-pounder (40mm) AT gun portee seen here during an excercise in Cyprus.

Next came the Wolsey self-propelled gun. The Wolsey was based on the A9 tank and, as a result of being a rushed attempt to create a self-propelled gun armed with the 25 Pounder gun-howitzer, the vehicle had numerous problems (1), was produced in limited numbers and was soon replaced by better designs.

Finally, there came a new light tank: the Stuart Mk V. Apparently, its design sprung from an US design. Why the British military would consider proper to take an US tank into servive may tell a bit about what the top brass thought about their own light tanks (the Mark series). Like ist US half-brethern, the M2 and the M3, the Stuart wa armed with a 2 pounder gun, but with only three .303 Vickers machine guns: coaxial with the gun, on top of the turret in an anti-aircraft mount and in a ball mount in right bow.

The first Stuart tanks were better than their ancestors but they could be further improved.

While the Stuart was an improvement upon the previous models, it was no free of faults: its gun and poor internal layout. The two-man turret crew was a significant weakness, so a three-man turret was demanded. Furthermore, the Stuart also had a limited range, which was a severe problem in the highly mobile warfare as units often outpaced their supplies and were stranded when they ran out of fuel. On the positive side, crews liked its relatively high speed and mechanical reliability.

A clear result of the expansion of the armoured corps was the creation of the 1st and 2nd Armoured Divisions. The 1st Armoured Division was formed in November 1937 as the Mobile Division, under Major-General Percy Hobart, a veteran of the Great War that had fought in France (Neuve Chapelle and Loos) and Mesopotamia (Palestine). Almost nine months later came the creation of the second armoured unit, under the command of Major General Willoughby Norrie, DSO, MC and Bar and also a Great War veteran.

Salisbury Plains were the first place were those two divisions were to test their engines and their tactics.

(1) Typical understatement to say that it was a bloody failure. Not surprising, after all, bearing in mind that I'm making up this model while waiting for the Bishop SPG. About the name: Better a Wolsey SPG than a Campeggio one, don't you think?




@El Pip: With so many Nationals around (Liberal National, National Labour, Independent National), I got confused. Basically, this AAR is going to become the one that had its writer writting more mistakes than chapters, methinks...

@trekaddict: Good explanation, good...

@trekaddict -2-:

@El Pip -2-: Too true, that was my first thought onc I took a look on the shitt... on the outdated Red Fleet. About where they found the unfinished battleship hull... Uncle Joe wanted and no one was in the mood to make a trip to Siberia...

@Razgriz 2K9: That they would have gone bankrupt earlier?

@Nathan Madien: A pity I killed him. 'Cauz I'd love to kill him again!!!!

[trekaddict]

That second Division... slap five more on that unit number and we're golden.

[Nathan Madien]

By the way, where did you get the chapter name from?

[Razgriz 2K9]

I wonder who's going to be the master of tank warfare...This may be interesting.

[El Pip]

I dunno Kurtie, if you wanted a rubbish light tank what on earth was wrong with the Mk VII? That had a 2 pdr gun, 2 man turret and was a vast improvement over the earlier light tanks while still being terrible. No need to go running of to get bad American tanks when there are plenty of bad British light tanks to chose from!

Given the naming trend started with Wolsey does that mean we can look forward to more units named after historical bishops rather than just ranks? If so can I please put in a request that the TTL equivalent of the OTL Crocodile flame tank is called the Cranmer....